The present disclosure relates generally to ejection port covers for firearms and more specifically to ejection port covers having one or more dynamic sealing characteristics.
Many firearms available today, including but not limited to various automatic and semi-automatic rifles, are designed with a receiver having an ejection port defined therein. The ejection port allows for ejection of spent shell cases from the receiver each time a round of ammunition is fired. More specifically, when a round is fired, a portion of the hot, high-pressure gas that results from ignition of propellant (e.g., gun powder) contained with the round is used to power a mechanism that extracts the spent case and chambers a new round. However, high-pressure gases, heat, and powder residue are also often released through the ejection port during operation of such firearms. In some firearms, the ejection port is positioned in the receiver such that some portion of the gas, heat and powder residue is allowed to escape through the ejection port and contact an operator's face and eyes, causing pain and discomfort, distraction, and skin discoloration. This problem can be exacerbated by use of a sound suppressor, which can cause even more gas to vent out of the ejection port defined in the receiver.
The release of gas and particulate matter through the ejection port and into an operator's face and eyes during use of the firearm can be a dangerous distraction and hindrance, particularly during periods of repeat or sustained fire, as the resulting discomfort may require the operator to cease firing or look away from a target or threat in order to alleviate the problem. Such a distraction can be costly during combat and other life threatening situations where visual acuity, timing and accuracy are critical.
The problem of hot gas and particular matter escaping out of an ejection port of a firearm and into an operator's face and eyes is particularly prevalent among “bullpup” style firearms (i.e., firearms in which the action is located behind the trigger group, and usually in front of a short buttstock), including but not limited to TAVOR® rifles, such as the select-fire TAVOR® TAR-21 assault rifle manufactured by Israel Weapon Industries, Ltd., an Israeli Corporation, and the semi-automatic TAVOR® SAR rifle manufactured by IWI US, Inc. (collectively, “IWI”) for the United States civilian market. TAVOR® is a registered trademark of Israel Weapon Industries, Ltd.
TAVOR® rifles function based on a long stroke piston system, wherein the piston is mechanically fixed to the bolt group and moves through the entire operating cycle. TAVOR® rifles are ambidextrous and have two ejection ports defined in the receiver of such firearms, with one ejection port positioned directly opposite the other on either side of the firearm. This feature allows such firearms to be configured on demand for right or left handed shooters by repositioning certain components on the appropriate side of the firearm. For example, a TAVOR® rifle in the right handed shooter configuration uses the ejection port on the right side of the firearm (which would be opposite the operator's face when the firearm is shouldered) to direct spent shell casings away from the operator's face, while the unused ejection port on the opposite (i.e., left) side is covered by an interchangeable ejection port cover.
However, the conventional factory TAVOR® ejection port cover only prevents spent shall casings from being ejected through the unused ejection port and to prevent external debris from entering the receiver and fouling the action of the firearm. The conventional ejection port cover does nothing to prevent gas and powder residue from escaping out of the unused ejection port nearest the operator's face and allows hot gas and powder residue to vent through such ejection port directly into the face of the operator.
What is needed then are improvements in ejection port covers for firearms.